The 11th edition of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es kicked off in Barcelona on Sunday with Lidl-Trek taking top honours and Ellen van Dijk taking the first red jersey of the week on Mother's Day in Spain.
The American team finished the 8.1 km TTT three seconds ahead of SD Worx-Protime and Liv AlUla Jayco, who finished second and third, respectively. Demi Vollering, the 2024 Vuelta winner, lost six seconds to Lidl-Trek's leaders Riejanne Markus and Niamh Fisher-Black with the French team finishing fourth on the day.
Brief results
- Lidl-Trek @ 09:30
- SD Worx-Protime +0:03
- Liv AlUla Jayco st.
- FDJ-Suez +0:06
- Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto +0:08
- Picnic PostNL +0:09
- Movistar +0:16
- EF Education-Oatly st.
- Human Powered Health +0:20
- Visma-Lease a Bike +0:21
How it happened
- Wet roads greeted the women in Barcelona in the days proceeding the race but luckily the morning of the team time trial held clear skies.
- Three teams lined up in special edition jerseys - Uno-X Mobility, Lotto, and Arkéa-B&B Hotels. All three are usually primarily dressed in red, but for La Vuelta the leader of the race has dibs on the color.
- The first team down the ramp was Lotto. The Belgian ProTeam set an early time of 10:07.37.
- As the WorldTour teams started to take to the ramp, a few cut it very close in getting lined up; on the ground reports indicated that there was an issue with bike checks before the start. Visma-Lease a Bike actually rolled down the ramp two riders short, as one dodged through the volunteers who hold riders at the top of the ramp on her way to join her team, and another rolled out from the car shoot.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot later lashed out at a the organisers in a since-deleted Instagram story, writing, "WTF!!! How the organization of a Grand Tour can be SO amateur? Is the jury sleeping while checking our bikes?!!! We were there 20 min before the bike check and 2 of our girls didn't make it on time. We kept saying to the jury we had to go but seems they were in chill mood. So much preparation and effort for nothing. Losing so much time on GC... UCI you prone for a fair sport, but this is not the way to go."
- There were more issues at the start ramp for Cat Ferguson, junior ITT world champion, who suffered a flat tyre as she rolled out for Movistar. Unfortunately, the team couldn't wait for the young British rider with their two GC contenders Liane Lippert and Marlen Reusser taking priority. Ferguson then had to race the clock to make time cut on her own for the entirety of the 8.1 km race.
- Team Picnic PostNL spent longest in the hot seat and saw a number of dangerous rivals slip outside their time, including Movistar, Visma-Lease a Bike and EF Education-Oatly.
- Liv AlUla Jayco then put in some solid mid-race splits, setting the best time of the day to the first time check despite a few nervous moments when they separated going into the halfway hairpin, topping all the other WorldTeams until Lidl-Trek closed in on the finish.
- Lidl-Trek won last year's opening TTT in Valencia on a very similar albeit twice as long parcours, and 12 months on, the American squad once again finished on the top of the leaderboard, three seconds ahead of previous leaders Liv AlUla Jayco, and before FDJ-Suez and SD Worx-Protime came into the finish.
- Unfortunately FDJ's Vittoria Guazzini took a tumble at the turn around, but despite the heavy hit, the Italian was able to get back on her bike and finish the race, but she lost over two minutes, putting her fifth from last.
- Van Dijk now leads the Vuelta on the same time as team leaders Riejanne Markus and Niamh-Fisher Black, along with Anna Henderson and Shirin Van Anrooij. Mischa Bredewold and Anna van der Breggen then lead the SD Worx cohort three seconds down. Meanwhile, reigning Vuelta champion Demi Vollering starts her defence with a modest six-second deficit.
Quotes of the day
Van Dijk, who rolled across the line first for her team, was quick to thank all of Lidl-Trek for the victory.
We are super happy. We really wanted this win and we trained really well for it, we had the whole team really go for it, not just the riders but also the staff. We really really wanted this win so to do it in the end is super nice. It went super fast. Before you know it you're at the finish again."
The day was flawless for Lidl-Trek, although not according to the Dutchwoman who is always expecting the most from herself.
We had a really good strategy and we executed it really well, I think. We did almost everything the way we wanted, maybe some tiny things a bit different, but as always we were satisfied with the performance."
Van Dijk also highlighted why team time trials, an event that takes place less and less these days, are so important to the riders.
When you hear you've won it's such a relief. These are the best wins because you can celebrate it all together, also with the staff, so it's a phenomenal win for all of Lidl-Trek."
What's next?
Pulled from Abby's full Vuelta preview ...
Stage 2: Molins de Rei to Sant Boi de Llobregat - 99 km - Monday, May 5 at 14:30 CET
Stage 2 starts off with a Category 2 climb right out of the gate. The stage takes place just east of Barcelona, great news for the team staff.
The stage itself is a short one, just shy of 100 km, so it's not out of the question that there will be riders warming up on stationary bikes before this one, ready for attacks to fly on the slopes of La Palma de Cervelló.
After the initial climb the peloton hits to a rolling road that continues for much of the stage. There are no additional classified climbs, and nothing that could be considered an uncategorized nuisance, until they get to the final 25 km.
With 15 km to go, they will race down into the city. The descent is relatively gradual, there are sections of -8%, but it will make any chase more difficult if there is a break-up up the road. It will also make for some fast leadouts from the sprinter's teams before they get to the finish in Sant Boi de Llobregat.
The finish itself is technical. There is a sharp left-hand turn with 1.3 km to go, another bend 300 meters later, then another left-hander immediately before the road takes a sharp left into the finish line. The final turn is only 100 meters from the line and on a 2.6% grade.
With only three seconds separating the top three teams, someone from SD Worx-Protime or Liv AlUla Jayco could take the leader's jersey off the back of Van Dijk, or one of Van Dijk's teammates could claim it should they take the stage. Mischa Bredewold in particular is a rider the American team need to keep an eye on if they wnat to keep the lead within their team.
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